In Good Spirits: A toast to Louisiana’s cocktail culture

The legendary Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone is one of New Orleans’ most historic cocktail lounges and birthplace of the classic Vieux Carré cocktail.

New Orleans is home to many historic cocktail bars, but it also boasts newer establishments like Cure, which is earning a reputation as one of the best places for a cocktail anywhere in North America.

The Brandy Milk Punch at Brennan’s is just one of many “eye openers” served at this New Orleans institution, which also offers wine pairings with its breakfast menu.

Cajun Liquor is just one of many drive-thru daiquiri stands in Shreveport. Drivers pull up until 6 a.m. to sample the near-lethal concoctions served here to go.

New Orleans is home to many historic cocktail bars, but it also boasts newer establishments like Cure, which is earning a reputation as one of the best places for a cocktail anywhere in North America. One of the most popular drinks here is the daily punch, served from a cut glass bowl on the bar.

Cajun Liquor’s sign lists just a few of the nearly lethal concoctions served here to go.

Related

Pity the poor vampires of True Blood. There they are, living in Louisiana, home to the best drinking culture in North America, but doomed to an eternity of swilling blood rather than, say, enjoying a Sazerac or even a drive-thru daiquiri.

Mind you, they’ll have plenty of other things to keep them occupied when the HBO TV series returns June 16. Vampire Bill, it seems, now has super powers. For the rest of us, cocktails will have to do.

Louisiana is a good place for it, especially in New Orleans. As Kirk Estopinal, co-owner of the city’s Cure cocktail bar, says, “New Orleans has a rich, rich history in classic cocktails. You have a whole range of places doing cocktails at a very high level. But everyone always keeps their foot in the past a little bit.”

Indeed, New Orleans is the birthplace of many of the world’s greatest drinks. At the top of that list is the Sazerac, the city’s official cocktail (rye whisky or cognac, sugar, Peychaud’s bitters, absinthe rinse). Many people believe it was the original cocktail, though it was invented about three decades after the word “cocktail” first appeared in print, back in 1806.

Then there are the Brandy Crusta, Grasshopper, Ramos Gin Fizz, Brandy Milk Punch, A La Louisianne, Vieux Carré and Absinthe Frappé, all invented in NOLA.

There’s also the Hurricane, which technically isn’t a cocktail, but a punch. Chances are it’s what’s in those go-cups carried by revellers along Bourbon Street.

After all, in Louisiana, it’s legal to drink in public, as long as it’s from a closed container. It’s also legal — sort of — to carry a go-cup of booze in your car, which is why drive-thru daiquiri stands are so popular in Shreveport, the True Blood vampires’ stomping ground. (Sadly, though, Shreveport has no real-life version of Fangtasia, the vampire nightclub.)

These “daiquiris” are highly alcoholic slushies made with overproof liquor and served in giant takeout cups.

“They are way sweet,” says Chris Jay, a Shreveport local who writes the Drink Swampwater daiquiri blog. “They will give you a hangover.”

Perhaps a pint of True Blood would be a safer choice.

Here in Louisiana, booze is part of the culture. It’s on breakfast menus that offer wine pairings and “eye openers.” It’s the focus of one of NOLA’s most popular walking tours. And it’s the raison d’être of one of the biggest events of the year, Tales of the Cocktail.

This year marks the 11th round of the cocktail conference, which will be held July 17 to 21, and marks the annual exodus of Vancouver’s top bartenders to NOLA. Some will be leading seminars or taking part in the Cocktail Apprentice Program; others will just be drinking it all in, just as when Tales came to Vancouver “on tour” in 2011 and 2012.

“There’s no shortage of people going down there this year. It sounds like there is quite the Canadian contingent,” says Trevor Kallies, bar and beverage director at Donnelly Group and president of the Canadian Professional Bartenders Association B.C. chapter, who will be attending Tales for the fourth time. “As an attendee, what truly stood out is you can walk into the lobby at the Hotel Monteleone and you’re going to be rubbing shoulders with every notable cocktail person you’ve ever read about.”

The Hotel Monteleone is home to the Carousel Bar, where the Vieux Carré was invented. The bar revolves and there was a time when ladies of dubious reputation would perch there while gentlemen watched them drift by from the sidelines.

“It was a lazy susan of sex,” says city tour guide Mary Lacoste. But, she adds, “We’re not as naughty as you might think. We have almost as many churches as we have bars. We just don’t hide things.”

Which is good news, perhaps, if you happen to be in Louisiana and a thirsty vampire is headed your way.

Recipe: Vieux Carré

This classic cocktail — whose name means the Old Square, the historic name for the French Quarter — was invented at the Hotel Monteleone’s Carousel Bar in New Orleans in the 19th century. It was for many years lost to history, but was recently rediscovered, luckily for us. In his book, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (Quarry Books, 2009), author Ted Haigh recommends shaking it, but as an all-spirits drink, it should properly be stirred.

1 oz. rye whisky

1 oz. cognac or good brandy

1 oz. sweet vermouth

1 generous bar spoon Benedictine

2 dashes Angostura bitters

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Place all ingredients in a mixing glass and stir well with ice until diluted to your taste. Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass and garnish with a lemon twist. Serves one

Tales of the Cocktail

True Blood returns for its sixth season this Sunday at 8 p.m. on HBO, www.hbocanada.com/trueblood.

Tales of the Cocktail runs July 17 to 21 in New Orleans.

Go to www.talesofthecocktail.com for tickets or more information.

For info on travel to Louisiana, visit www.louisianatravel.com.

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